Weekend box office: The Lego Movie 2 opens surprisingly low

Brad SturdivantFebruary 10th, 2019

The discussions this coming week will all revolve around what went wrong with THE LEGO MOVIE 2: THE SECOND PART at the weekend box office. The sequel to the beloved original was on track for a $60 million opening, but it looks like it will barely come in around $30 million. To put it in perspective, the original opened with $69 million, THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE opened with $53 million and THE LEGO NINJAGO MOVIE opened with $20 million. So is this a saturation issue since all four Lego movies opened in the last five years? Or are audiences tired of the trademark Lego humor? It’s tough to say, but it’s very disappointing since I liked all of the Lego movies and if anything, we need more of them, not less, but maybe future sequels should go straight to Netflix?

Next week feels like a random dumping of movies that studios don’t know what to do with, but it should make for an interesting weekend. First up is HAPPY DEATH DAY 2U. It’s hard to gauge horror movies, but considering there are no other cheesy horror movies to compete with, Death Day might surprise and do well. We also have ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL, which looks like a beautiful mess. I respect anime, but I can’t watch a two minute trailer with the lead CGI character’s huge eyes looking so distorted. I can’t imagine having to sit through the entire film. Early pundits are already calling it a massive flop, but I’m sure it will do better on home video. Then The Rock will try to lift up FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY, which is getting some good early reviews, but doesn’t feel like a box office success. Finally, there’s Rebel Wilson’s ISN’T IT ROMANTIC. This would be the only romantic comedy hitting on the weekend after Valentine’s Day and I’m just not sure Wilson has the star power she did five years ago. My guess is THE LEGO MOVIE 2: THE SECOND PART narrowly holds on to the top spot. Note: the numbers below will be updated as they become final.